News

NuFunk Presents Bob Marley Tribute Tour

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:03:46 GMT

Bob Marley Birthday Tour with House of David Gang:

Sat. Feb 7 El Mocambo, Toronto, Ontairo
Sat. Feb 6 Lee’s Palace, Toronto, Ontairo
Thurs. Feb 11 Oxygen NightClub, Moncton, New Brunswick
Fri. Feb 12 Paragon Theatre, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Sat. Feb 13 The Blue Olive, Saint John, New Brunswick
Sun. Feb 14 Nicky Zee’s, Fredericton, New Brunswick
Tues. Feb 16 The Mansion House, Kingston, ON
Wed. Feb 17 Rainbow Room, Ottawa, ON

for more information visit: http://www.nufunk.ca or http://www.myspace.com/houseofdavidgang

(TORONTO) Jamaican-Canadian Reggae group House of David Gang is excited to be returning to Atlantic Canada for its 2nd Annual Bob Marley Food Drive & Black History Month tour! This 7-show swing honours the life and messages of peace and hope of reggae's spiritual father, the immortal Bob Marley, who would have turned 65 years old this year.
The House of David Gang has rapidly developed a following on the East Coast; having performed at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, Evolve Festival and Salty Jam as well as over a dozen club shows across the Maritimes. They have earned a reputation as one of Canada's top Roots Reggae outfits.

Robert “Bob” Nesta Marley (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981) was a Jamaican musician, singer-songwriter and Rastafarian. He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska, rocksteady and reggae bands: The Wailers (1964 – 1974) and Bob Marley & the Wailers (1974 – 1981). Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited for helping spread Jamaican music to the worldwide audience.

Marley’s best known hits include “I Shot the Sheriff”, “No Woman, No Cry”, “Exodus”, “Could You Be Loved”, “Stir It Up”, “Jamming”, “Redemption Song”, “One Love” and, together with The Wailers, “”Three Little Birds”, as well as the posthumous releases “Buffalo Soldier” and “Iron Lion Zion”. The compilation album, Legend, released in 1984, three years after his death, is the best-selling reggae album ever (10 times platinum), with sales of more than 12 million copies.

Even today nearly 30 years after his death, the name Bob Marley is recognized by old and young alike around the world. Reggae’s most transcendent and iconic figure, Bob Marley was the first Jamaican artist to achieve international superstardom, in the process introducing the music of his native island nation to the far-flung corners of the globe. Marley’s music gave voice to the day-to-day struggles of the Jamaican experience, vividly capturing not only the plight of the country’s impoverished and oppressed but also the devout spirituality that remains their source of strength.

His songs of faith, devotion, and revolution created a legacy that continues to live on through the music of his extended family as well as generations of artists the world over touched by his genius.

HOUSE OF DAVID GANG (Toronto)

http://www.myspace.com/houseofdavidgang
One of Canada's top roots reggae collectives, The House of David Gang specialize in the timeless and classic Jamaican sound of the 1970s and early 80s. Faithfully recreating the soulful roots rock reggae sound, The House of David Gang is a collective of artists, vocalists, horn players, guitars, and keyboards, backed by a rock-steady rhythm section/ The House of David Gang have headlined Rock, World Music, Caribbean and Reggae Festivals, made appearances on live-to-air radio and performed at dozens of Private, Fundraisers and Community events.

Listen/Download to "Come with Me" New Brunswick Dub/Reggae Song here:
http://www.nufunk.ca/House_of_David_Gang-Co me_With...

HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER (Toronto)
http://www.highplainsdrifter.ca
http://www.myspace.com/highplainsdrifting
Opening on the tour is High Plains Drifter, Pan Canadian world beat ensemble whose dynamic live performances are captivating audiences across Canada. Like a traveling vagabond, High Plains Drifter is a pan-Canadian collective of musicians traveling town to town, bringing the energy of celebration to audiences everywhere.

DJ ?uesquecest (Reggae Classics/Breaks)

Last year's tour was a blast and was a sell out! Don't miss it and don't forget your non-perishable food donation for local food banks in Halifax, Moncton, Fredericton and Saint John.

Lotus Ticket Contest -Sat. Feb. 27 @ The Opera House

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:00:52 GMT

Win a pair of Tickets to:
An Evening with Lotus w/ special guests The Chameleon Project
Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 8:00pm
www.lotusvibes.com

A pair of tickets to the upcoming Lotus show on Saturday, February 27th at the Opera House with special guests Toronto's The Chameleon Project

Embrace Presents in conjunction with Nufunk.ca are thrilled to announce that Lotus traiblazers in live rock & electronica will be performing in Toronto on February 27th!

Never a group to be pigeonholed, Lotus brings many musical weapons to the stage. From festival stages such as Rothbury, Wakarusa, Evolve and Red Rocks to theaters across the country, the band has left grinning crowds dripping with sweat. Equal parts dance and rock, Lotus has been crafting a unique brand of instrumental rock for the past decade.

The big light show and pounding beats may be club inspired, but the band’s ability to connect with the audience through emotive composition and dynamic improvisation pushes performances past the elusive barrier dividing concert and experience.

Lotus will be playing 2 blistering sets - you won't want to miss it!

To enter the ticket contest, please email your full name to info@embracepresents.com
Winners will announced on Monday, February. 1st.

Canadian Jamband Event of the Year featuring The Burt Neilson Band, The Fat

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:35:22 GMT

On Saturday December 19th The Burt Neilson Band carry on a tradition of reuniting for their extended fanbase with a holiday show accompanied by fellow travelers Fat Cats and the Gratefully Deadicated Sound System. Don't Miss it!

http://www.nufunk.ca presents...

Saturday, December 19th, 2009
Burt Neilson Band (Toronto, ON)
The Fat Cats (Hamilton, ON)
plus Gratefully Deadicated Soundsystem

Opera House - 735 Queen St. E
http://www.theoperahousetoronto.com
Doors 9:30 PM Show 10:00 PM
$15 Advance / $20 at the door
Tickets available in Toronto at Soundscapes, Rotate This, Play De Record, Shanti Baba
and in Hamilton at Where Heads Meet
Online at http://www.ticketweb.ca
Facebook http://tinyurl.com/burtneilson

There’s little room for debate: The Burt Neilson Band (BNB) are Canada’s pre-eminent jamband. A double edged label at best- most often used by rock writers as a pejorative and followed by adjectives like ‘wanky’ and descriptions of audience members ‘noodle dancing’- most bands still would die for the loyalty particularly in terms of live shows that this band has engendered in their over thirteen year career.

Having formed in Thunder Bay in 1996 as a seven piece band, Burt Neilson Band gradually pared down to an airtight, turn on a dime, four piece ensemble. With over 1,000 live shows under their belt they’ve honed their chops and sound beyond their youthful dabblings with crowd pleasing versions of rock, soul and funk grooves. While one can still count on their live show to delve at any moment into looser improvisations their songwriting has showed a steadfast growth in both style and substance.

The fact that journalists get hung up on the label doesn’t seem to matter at all to the band members influential group of peers- the fellow musicians they would have themselves judged by. Not surprisingly veteran sideman (vocals/keyboards/organ/a ccordion) Jeff Heisholt tours extensively with the Trews who will admit that when they were underage they’d sneak into BNB’s legendary shows in their hometown of Antigonish, NS. Bassist Jeremy Little (in addition to his own project Everything All The Time) was plucked for Jason Collett’s backing band when the remnants of Paso Mino scattered to the winds and Zeus was formed. Drummer Gavin Maguire likewise plays in a handful of ensembles ranging from their cohort Pete Elkas’ band to Rodriguez (formerly know as Bodega) to Dearly Beloved. Meanwhile guitarist and songwriter Mike Filipowitsch has been focusing on his solo material. In addition to completing a cross Canada solo acoustic tour, Mike has been in the studio with producer Chris Wardman (Tragically Hip, Randy Bachman ) on Billy Manzik's latest release "Alltogether Now" (2009), and continues to collaborate on projects with a variety of musicians forwarding his own solo career.

Artist links:
www.myspace.com/burtneilsonband
www.myspace.com/hamiltonfatcats
www.gratefullydeadicated.com

Facebook link:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=185003082682
Online Ticket Link
http://www.ticketweb.ca/t3/sale/SaleEventDetai l?di...

Breaking News... live record from the NEW DEAL released

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:39:09 GMT

A little sampling of the long-awaited live record from the NEW DEAL with footage from their shows this past summer.

Check it out when you have a second, pass it on (trying to really chalk up the youtube views) and maybe see you at our Toronto show on the 17th at the Mod Club! We're then off to NYC for a special NYE late-night show at BB KING's Nightclub in Times Square. Should be a blast!
- Darren Shearer - drummer The New Deal

Umphrey McGee Ticket Contest - November 11, 2009 @ The Opera House

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:55:12 GMT

Win a pair of Tickets and Special Gift to:
An Evening with Umphrey's McGee
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 8:00pm
www.umphreysmcgee.com

A pair of tickets to the upcoming Umphrey's McGee show on Wednesday, November 11th at the Opera House are up for grabs plus something special courtesy of the Umphrey's organization

Embrace Presents in conjunction with Nufunk.ca are thrilled to announce that Umphrey's McGee, the midwestern US monsters of improvised rock will be performing in Toronto on November 11th! Founded in 1997 at Notre Dame University, Indiana, Umphrey's McGee soon made Chicago home base, and over the course of their 10 plus year career have become one of the premier live acts in today's touring circuit. Their sound evolves with every passing show and their live concerts are in high demand by their hungry fan base. The second decade of Umphrey's McGee is fueled by a hot new album "Mantis", and the band shows no signs of letting up.

Umphrey's McGee will be playing 2 blistering sets - you won't want to miss it!

To enter the ticket contest, please email your full name to info@embracepresents.com
Winners will announced on Nov. 1st.

Purple Hill CD Release Party Friday, October 16/09

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:37:27 GMT

Champions of cosmic country, folk, garage rock and dream pop, Toronto's Purple Hill (fronted by Rough Skeletons and From Fiction's Owen Marchildon) combine a bit of all these genres into one incredible sounding stew. And they officially release Beechnut St., their eagerly awaited follow-up to 2008's I Was Born To Flesh this Friday, October 16/09 at The Garrison, located in Toronto's west end: 1197 Dundas Street West.

Read a rave review for Beechnut St. here

By the way, FREE CHILI and Caesar Salad will be served at 8:30.

Doors at 9pm, with openers Major Grange and The Pining

Oh Yeah, all this for only $5!!

Vote for Wassabi Collective to WIN The Peak Performance Project!

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:15:49 GMT

Vote for Wassabi Collective!

Nelson, BC's Wassabi Collective are currently one of the Top 19 finalists in The PEAK Performance Project, which is a seven-year, $5.29 million contest open to all musicians in British Columbia, created by 100.5 The PEAK and Music BC to develop BC based emerging artists. The three PEAK Performers of the Year will share $275,000 in cash for sustained career development. For real!! This could really change their lives!! You can only vote once per computer, unless its a laptop than you can vote every time you log on in a different place. Voting began on Monday Oct 5th at 10:05AM PST and ends on Nov 30th at Midnight. Go to www.peakperformanceproject.com to vote and also help them by spreading the word and getting your friends and family to vote too!!! You don't have to sign up or give any personal information, you just click on the band and then hit vote, its that easy! It is all part of the judging for the competition, to see how many people vote for them. Your votes rock!!!! Thank You from Wassabi Collective!!! Here is the link to the facebook group

As a thank you, you can download Wassabi Collective's acoustic version of the song they wrote at Boot Camp called 'In a Minute' and all the other songs of the same title by other boot camp Top20'ers in a zip file at the same website.

Interview with Scott Murawski of The Mike Gordon Band

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:26:24 GMT

Scott Murawski is the current guitarist for the Mike Gordon Band. A gifted guitarist and singer/songwriter from a small town in Massachusetts, Scott started his professional career with rock band Max Creek in 1972 at the tender age of 15 years old. Heavily influenced by the improvisational style of the Grateful Dead, Max Creek developed a strong following for their live shows which often lasted three hours or more. Creek, as they are known, peaked in popularity in the late 1980s, when they would play more than 200 shows a year and hold their own yearly festival called "Camp Creek." Max Creek's had a strong influence on the early development of the jamband scene, notably Phish, whose bassist Mike Gordon has referred to Max Creek as one of his “favorite bands,” and has sat in with the band several times.

Scott's creative guitar playing helped fuel the longevity of Max Creek and propelled him into numerous other diverse projects including a solo album and roles in bands such as Depth Quartet, Ramble Dove and now with the Mike Gordon Band. He has also been a collaboration with drummer Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead (and bassist Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers Band) which was introduced in Costa Rica at a meeting facilitated by none other than Phish bassist Mike Gordon.

I caught up with Scott it Pittsburgh where he was playing at Mr. Small's Theater

How is the tour going?

Hey Jay, Tour is going great, the shows are mostly sold out, the crowds are enthusiastic and there's this great energy coming from the fans.

Is the focus of the tour to support Mike's newest album?

Mike's Green Sparrow album is mostly just him him on the album, I'm a special guest on only one track. Mike spent the entire year of 2007 writing and recording the album with lots of great special guests. We now have about 65 songs that we are playing live, switching things up every night, and we are doing a lot of work in rehearsals and in sound-check. Without giving away too much we are playing such a wide variety of material. Of course we are playing stuff off Green Sparrow, Mike's newest album, plus stuff he's done with Leo Kottke, some of my own songs, keyboardist Tom Cleary songs and a wide variety of covers from Radiohead, Brian Eno to traditional bluegrass.

So this isn't just a band to tour his newest album...

First he put a band together mostly to tour in support of the album, we did a small run last year, but now we feel like we have established this project - the band is tight and there is a strong element of improvisation. We have a rule that anyone can extend a section as long as they want, as long as they give us the signal.

Like Green Sparrow, is this project very guitar driven?

I would say the project is more groove driven, as apposed to guitar driven. Most of the guitar parts for the songs were written by Mike. We spent a lot of time together with him teaching me how he played those songs on guitar. I feel really comfortable with his writing, because we have a long friendship dating back to when he used to come check out my band Max Creek.

Tell me how this band came together.

Mike and I spent a couple weeks auditioning this band, and we really feel proud that we have put together a great group of musicians - all who come from different camps. Our percussion player, lived in Africa and studies with many different masters & players, where as Todd, our drummer is has deep jazz roots, Tom Cleary, brother to Neil Cleary who played with Mike and I in Ramble Dove is also just great.

Although we all come from different back grounds, not necessarily from a jamband background, we are really gelling and developing our own sound. Although Mike is considered one of the moody members of Phish, the album is very happy, has a positive vibe and our show tends to have a lot of happy moments.

Tell me about Bill Kreutzmann, Oteil Burbridge & Scott Murawski Project, how did it happen?

Two years ago I met Bill, through Mike Gordon and we played together at a benefit in Costa Rica. Originally we wanted to form a Trio with Mike Gordon, but he was too busy with other projects at that time, so Bill contacted Oteil and we played some great shows as BK3 including Gatherings of the Vibes.

We play a mix of songs I wrote and played with Max Creek, Grateful Dead tunes and we have about 10 songs that we are ready to record that have lyrics written by Robert Hunter - which we are planing on recording in January. We did a small run this year without Oteil who was very busy with the Allman Bros. so we reformed the group called it BK4 which included James Hutchinson on bass and singer Tara Nevins from Donna the Buffalo. Next year we are thinking of doing a lot more, that depends on Bill, as it's essentially his project.

We're near the end of the tour and we are very much looking forward to playing for you all up in Canada. We're also into after-parties!

- Jay Cleary, exclusive for Jambands.ca

moe. Toronto Ticket Contest

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:37:24 GMT

Win a pair of Tickets and Special Gift to:
An Evening with moe.
Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 8:00pm
www.moe.org

A pair of tickets to the upcoming moe. show on Saturday, October 10th at the Opera House are up for grabs plus something special courtesy of the moe. organization

After a five-year absence Embrace Presents are thrilled to announce that moe. will be coming back to Toronto - finally on a Saturday night. We know that many of you have not seen the band in a long while and the band is hotter then ever!

As usual moe. will, be playing 2 sets and we will announce an official after-party at a later date.

To enter the ticket contest, please email your full name to info@empracepresents.com in addition we will let you know after-party details

Gisto CD Release w/ House of David Gang & DJ ?uesquecest Friday, July 31

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:08:22 GMT

Check out the first video from his new album here:

more info here: www.nufunk.ca